"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16

What an incredible blessing! God bids us to come into His very presence. He says to "come boldly"...without reservation, with unwavering confidence, as a child comes in intimate trust. That is inconceivable to me, but how glorious!

When God established the Tabernacle in the wilderness for Israel, there was a veil that separated the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. No one was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies except the High Priest, and then only once a year to intercede with God for the sins of Israel. "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom" (Matthew 27:50-51). This was God, opening to us, once and for all, access into His presence through prayer.

Through the atonement of Christ we now have full access to God. We can come to God anytime, anywhere, under any conditions, and communicate with Him in prayer. No longer dependent upon a sacrificial lamb, for Christ is the "Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Not dependent on a High Priest to mediate with God, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). If we could understand this profound truth God has provided to us, it would radically change our life! In prayer, you are in HIS PRESENCE! That's incredible! But that's God!--His provision of grace to us.

Prayer brings us into an intimate communication with God. Prayer is not sentimental interests, a ritual we feel we should perform, or a spiritual exercise, but rather, the blessed privilege of engaging in a "holy living relationship" with Almighty God! It is the core of our spiritual life. In prayer, we can know the "mind of Christ" and His will concerning all things that are upon our hearts. In prayer we are awakened, more than in any other way, to our complete identification with Jesus Christ. We bow in "awe" of who God is, in "praise" for all we have in Christ, and in "thanksgiving" for all He has done, is doing, and will yet do. God binds our hearts in a oneness, in an intimacy, and a bond of love that only HE can give. It is before His throne of grace we begin to KNOW GOD in a way we have never known Him before!

"That you may find mercy." How blessed it is to receive mercy from the Father. MERCY is God withholding all the wrath and judgment we deserve. "It is because of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, for His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23). In prayer God awakens us anew to how great His mercy is to us.

"Find grace to help in time of our need." GRACE is God's boundless giving to us that which we do not deserve. Paul sought the Lord three times for the removal of his "thorn in the flesh." God said, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

This page was reprinted by permission from: http://litmin.org/dare.php?date=2019-08-11

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